Pore forming toxin, α-hemolsyin

&#945;-Hemolysin from Staphlococcus aureus is a pore-forming toxin made of seven repeats of an identical monomer arranged in a ring. The structural basis of the toxic activity was readily revealed when the structure of the ring was solved.

Background
Staphylococcus aureus is often pathogenic to humans and relies on several virulence factors in the course of the infections. &#945;-hemolysin is one such virulencce factor that forms pores in target cells.

PDB entry
7ahl is a 7 chain structure of sequences from Staphylococcus aureus. Full crystallographic information is available from OCA.

Additional 3D Structures of &#945;-Hemolysin

 * 3m2l
 * 3m4e
 * 3m4d
 * 3m3r

Additional Literature and Resources

 * For additional information, see: Toxins


 * David Briggs's Blog on &#945;-hemolsyin, which served as a template for the original adaptation of 7ahl to this topic page.
 * Pore-forming toxin at Wikipedia
 * Page on Bacterial Toxin &#945;-Hemolysin by Aleksei Aksimentiev and Klaus Schulten

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